Key Things to Know About H-1B Visas

A legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives which, among other things, calls for more than doubling the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to $130,000, making it difficult for firms to use the programme to replace American employees with foreign workers, including from India.

More than 60 percent of the US employees of Infosys are reportedly H-1B holders.

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Washington: A legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives which, among other things, calls for more than doubling the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to $130,000, making it difficult for firms to use the programme to replace American employees with foreign workers, including from India.

- It includes, but is not limited to, scientists, engineers or computer programmers. The government awards 65,000 every year

- Indians receive nearly 70% of all H-1B visas issued worldwide

- In the American fiscal year 2015 (October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015), more than 110,000 H-1B visas were issued to Indian citizens.

- In 2016, there were 236,000 applications for just 65,000 available visas, which means only 27.5% of the applicants were lucky

- Industry estimates put the total number of Indian engineers on H-1B visas in the US at up to 350,000

- The H-1B visa program tends to be more critical to outsourcing firms than US tech firms. For instance, more than 60 percent of the US employees of Infosys are H-1B holders, and the company in its annual report has cited an increase in visa costs as among factors that could hurt its profitability